The instant invention relates to a poultry breast de-boning machine and that processing method provided thereby for accomplishing a combined manual and automated mechanical removal of breast fillets from forward bilateral poultry carcass sections which have been previously separated from eviscerated whole poultry carcass members by other processing operation apparatus and technique, wherein it is first to be understood as herein described that the term "poultry" refers to edible fowl generally including but not necessarily limited to chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, pheasants, squab, and the like, and second to be understood is the term "forward bilateral poultry carcass section" which refers to that portion of a poultry carcass consisting of both wings bilaterally attached to the torso and entire breast portion thereof including the skeletal structure of ribs and keel in supportive connection from the vertebra of the backbone at the torso back and at the torso bottom the soft so called "belly skin" in extendible connection of the breasts respectively to the thigh juncture locations at opposite sides of the torso.
Traditionally, in view of the relatively fragile bone structure of poultry, and the stringent requirements that either raw or precooked meat removed from the poultry carcass supportive skeletal structure be free of either scraped or broken bone fragment contamination, poultry carcass meat peeling and removal operations in accomplishing de-boning have been generally accomplished by a combination of manual and relatively simple manually operated mechanical means which, although slow, does provide a high degree of processing control over the poultry carcass section being worked upon and thereby substantially reduces a likelihood of there being bone fragment contamination in removed meat. Examples of prior art disclosures which teach the combined manual and manually operated means for removal of meat from skeletal structure would be as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,557 to Segur, dated July 6, 1965, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,903 to Turner, dated Dec. 28, 1971, wherein both of the aforementioned disclosures teach static fixtures which are employed to facilitate the manual removal of meat. In a subsequent disclosure by Segur as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,261 dated Oct. 24, 1967, there is shown a manually operated mechanical means employed to plow the meat off a poultry leg after the meat thereon has been longitudinally slit to the bone along at least one side of the leg section.
With continually evolving development of convenience food items, such as fried fillet of chicken breast sandwiches and the like, the increase in acceptable poultry breast fillet product to meet that demand has far exceeded the current processing capacity and state of the art to economically produce substantially bone fragment free product at growing demand levels and increasing competitive margins. It is the instant invention apparatus and method provided thereby which orients on acceptably meeting the present and increasing deboned poultry breast fillet product demand.
In accomplishment of poultry breast de-boning operations one of the main initial problems to be overcome is that of being able to properly secure and maintain a carcass section containing the whole breast in a steady disposition relative to the particular de-boning apparatus to be employed, and as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,531,825 dated Oct. 6, 1970, to Segur et al one method for accomplishing the holding of a whole eviscerated poultry carcass for performance of meat removal processing operations is by the body cavity posterior opening insertion of a shaped reciprocating tensioning element urged into the poultry carcass cavity to thereby secure the same during manual removal therefrom of raw meat by means of two hand-held power-operated knives. Poultry carcass internally inserted holding apparatus are also shown in respective keel bone removal teachings of Panek in U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,634 dated Nov. 24, 1970, and Colosky in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,553 dated May 30, 1972, all of which provide the advantage of enabling open and ready access to those carcass areas upon which processing operations are to be performed.
The combination of poultry carcass cavity internal holding and mechanical meat removal is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,050 to Draper et al dated Mar. 16, 1971, therein teaching both an apparatus and method for holding a whole eviscerated poultry carcass by body cavity posterior opening insertion of a supporting fixture comprised of parallel longitudinally extending vertically spaced and extensible clamp arms respectively adapted to conformably engage the upper and lower interior body cavity poultry carcass surfaces upon extension thereof to thereupon secure the carcass during performance of, among other processing operations, the removal of breast fillets by means of directed water jets in cutting a plane to intersect the keel bone at an acute angle respectively either side thereof.
Another apparatus and method for accomplishing breast de-boning is that machine marketed and sold by the RDM Corporation of Columbus, Ohio, designated as their Automatic Breast Deboner Model CFS B1, which is adapted to receive manually positioned whole breast sections upon chain conveyor transported saddles for subsequent progressive engagement by angled blades to thereby effect a plowable poultry breast fillet removal respectively from either side of the keel bone.
Other poultry cutting apparatus showing the employment of carcass section body cavity inserted holding mandrel means for positioning and securing the same in accomplishment of de-boning processing operations would include the respective teachings of Gasbarro in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,863 dated Dec. 7, 1971, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,085 dated Jan. 10, 1978.
It should be understood that some of the features of the instant invention have, in some respects, structural and functional similarities to certain of those teachings separately set forth in the prior art disclosures heretofore cited and briefly discussed. However, as will hereinafter be pointed out, the instant invention is distinguishable from said earlier teachings in one or more ways in that the present invention has utility features and new and useful advantages, applications, and improvements in the apparatus and method of accomplishing poultry breast de-boning processing operations not heretofore known.